The Forrest City times., 1887-10-22
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admlttance.n And if the stranger enters he
 finds practically written over the second door
 ''No admittance,N and fl he goes ln, over all
 the pew doors seems written: "No admit
 tanee," while the minister stands in the pull ] pit hamfnering out his little niceties Of belief,
 pounding out the techncslities of feiigon,
 making pins. In the most practical, common
 sense way and laying aside the non essen tials
 and the hard definitions of religion, go out on
 the G0d-given mission, telling the people
 what they need snd when and how they can
 get it.
 Comparatively little effort has yet been
 made to save that large class of persons ih our
 midst called skeptics, and be who goes 10
 work here w.li not be building upon another
 mans foundation There is a great multitude
 of them. They are afraid Of us and our
 churches, for tho reason we dou't know how
 10 treat them. One of this class met Christ
 and hear with what tenderness, and pathos,
 and beauty. and success Christ dealt with
 him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
 all thy heart and with all thy soul. and with
 all thy mind, and with all thy strength This
 Is the first commandment and the second IS
 like 10 this. namely, thou shalt love thy neigh-
 bor as fhvself There is no other command.
 meut greater than thsp And the scribe said
 to him, "Well, Master. thou hast said the
 truth, for there is one God. and to lofe Him l with all the heart and all the understanding,
 and all the soul and all the strength is more 1 than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" l And when Jesus saw that he answered dis
 creetly, He said unto hiih. '1hou art not far [ from the Kingdom of God.n So a skeptic was 1 saved in one interview.
 | SOME CAUSES or sKKPTiCIsA
 But few Christian people treat the skeptie
 in that way. Instead of taking hold Of him l with the gentle hand of love we are apt to l take him with the iron plncers of ecelesIas-
 telsm. You would not be so rough on that
 man if you knew by what process he had lost
 his faith in Christianity. l have known men .keptical from the fact tbat they grew ID ir | houses where religion was Overdone. Sunday | was the most awful day of the week. They ] had religion driven into them with a tripham- | mer. They were surfelted with prayer meet iugs. They were stuffed and choked with catechlsms They we're often told they were | ihe worst boys the parents ever knew, because | they liked to ride down bill better than to read Bunyan's "Pilgrims Progress" When- ever fatber and mother talked of religion they drew down the corners of their mouth and rolled up their eyes. If any one thing will send a boy or girl to perdiction sooner than another that is 1t. If I had had such a father and mother fear should have been an infdel
 Others were ripped up of skepticism from being grievously wronged by some man who l proiessed to be Christian. They had a part ner in business who turned out to be first l class scoundrel though professed Christian. Twenty years ago they lost all faith by what | happened fin an oil company which was formed amid the petroleum excitement The compa- ny owned no land, or if they did, there was no sign ot oil produced; but the president of the company was a Presbyterian elder, and the | treasurer was an Episcopal yestryman, and one l director was Methodist class leader, and the other directors prominent members of Baptist and Congregational churches. Circulars were | gotten out telling what fabulous prospects i opened before this company
 l INNOCENT MEN DEFRAUDED.
 Innocent men and women who had a little Tfk in ataGf hat tla fhafr aI aafA d. | T don't know anything about this company, l but SO many good men are at the head of 1t | that 1t must he excellent and taking stock in | 1t must be almost as good as joining the l church" So they bought the stock, and per | haps received one dividend so as to keep them
 still, but after while they found that the | company had reorganized and had different | president, and different treasurer, and diff | ferent directors. Other engagements or i'll | health had caused the former officers of the l company with many regrets, to resign. And
 all that the subscribers of the stock had to
 show for their investment was beautifully | ornamented certificate Sometimes that man
 looking over his old papers comes across that l certificate, and 1t is so suggestive that he VOWS | he wants none of the religion that the presi-
 dents, and trustees and directors of that oil | company protessed. Of course their reflection | of religion on such grounds un- l philosophical and unwise. l am told that one ! third Of the United States army desert every l | every year. Is that anything against the | United States gOvernment that swore them in | And il soldiers of Jesus Christ desert, is that | anything against the Christianity which they | swore tO support and defendi How do you l judge of the currency of countryi By counterfeit bili 0, you must have patience 1 with those who have been swindled by re- l ligious preteuderS Live in the presence of
 others frank, honest, earnest, Christian life,
 that they may be attracted to the same | Saviour upon whom your hopes depend.
 TOO LITTLE FAITH SHOWN.
 Remember skeptcism always has some req
 son. good or bad, for existing Goethe's ire
 llgion started when the news came to Ger l many Of the earthquake at Lisbon, November i 1, l515 That 6O,000 people should have per | ished in that earthquake and in the after
 rising of the Talgus river so stirred his sym | pithies that he threw up his belief in the l goodness of God.
 Others have gone into skepticlsm from natural persistence in asking the reason why. | They have been carefully stabbed of the in- | terrogation point There are so many things | they can not get explained. They can not | understand the Trinity or how God can be
 sovereign and yet man be a free agent Neither can l. They say: 'l don't under come into the world" Neither do l. You say: "Why was that child started in life with such disadvantages, while others have | all physical and mental equipmentp can net ielt They go ont of church on Easter morning and say: "lhat doctrine of the resur- rectIon confOunded me" So it Is to me mystery beyond unravement. 1 understand all the processes by which men get into the dark. know them all. have travelled with burning feet that blistered way. The first word that children learn to utter is generally papa or mamma. l think the first word l ever uttered WIS ''Whyf 1 know what it Is to have A hundred midnights pour their darkness into one hour Such men gre not to be seoited at but helped. Turn your back upon drown ing man when you have the rope with which to pull him ashore and let that woman in the third story of house perish In the flames when YOU have a ladder with which to help her out and help her down rather than turn vour back scorntully on sceptic whose soul is in more peril than the bodies of those other endangered ones possibly can be.
 PLEADING WITH DoUBTERs
 An, skepticsm Is a dark land There are | men in this house who would give thousand | worlds if they possessed them to get back to ! the placid faith of their fathers and mothers | it is our place to help them, and we may help l them, never through their heads, but always through their hearts These skeptics, when | brought Co Jesus, will be nightly affected l far more so thru those who never examined | the evidences of Christianity. Thomas Chal- | mers was once a skeptie, Robert Hall skeptic | Robert Newton a skeptlc, Christmas Evans a | skeptic. But when once with strong hand l they took hold of .he chariot of the gospel, l they rolled it on with What mOmentuml 1T
 ad,lress such men and women today throw
 out no scotf l implead them by the memory | of the good old days when, at their mothers | kuee, they said: ''Now l lay me down 10 l sleep,n and by these days and nights of scarlet | fever in which she watched you, giving you
 tlle medicine at just the right time and turn 1 ing vouf pollow when it was hot, and with | hands that many years ago turned to dust | sOothed away your pain, and with voice that
 you will never hear again, unless you join her
 In the better country, told you to never mind.
 for you would feel better bye and bye, and by
 thaJ dying couch where she looked so pale and
 talked SO slowly, catching her breath between
 the words, and you felt an awful loneliness
 coming over your sole; by all that beg you to
 come back and take the same religion. IL was
 good enough for her. It Is good enough for
 you. Nay, have better plea than that.
 plead by all the wounds and tears and blood
 and groans and sgonies and death throes ot
 the Son of God who approaches you this
 moment with torn brow and laeerated hand
 and whipped back, and saving: Come unto
 me. all ye who are weary and heavy laden,
 and will give you rest"
 LIFE SAVING WORK WANTED.